Speech recognition startup Uniphore makes top level appointments

Chennai-based speech recognition startup Uniphore Software Systems has appointed Sami Benafia as director of sales in Middle East and Aravind Gaddala as director of product management in Chennai.

Benafia will be responsible for developing strategic plans and objectives to drive engagement for clients and partners in the Middle East Region, a statement from Uniphore said. Gaddala will be responsible for product roadmap for all the product lines, activating the go-to-market strategy globally while ensuring a product-market fit.

The appointments come two months after Samith Ramachandran was brought in as vice president and head of professional services, and M Thamarai Selvi was made director of marketing and communications.

An engineering graduate from University of Derby, Benafia has over 19 years of experience in the domain of consulting and business management experience in professional services and software applications and has previously worked with Genesys, Sungard and Thomson Reuters prior to his new assignment.

An MBA from TA Pai Management Institute and an engineering graduate from MIT Manipal, Gaddala comes with 15 years of experience in IT products, logistics services and BPO consulting services. Previously, he has worked with Genpact, Oracle Corp, Ramco Systems and Miebach Logistics.

Uniphore was started in 2008 by Sachdev and Ravi Saraogi, both alumni of Jaypee University of Information Technology (Himachal Pradesh). The company, which has offices in India, Philippines and the UAE, claims to have worked with 70 enterprise customers and served over 4 million end users.

In May last year, Uniphore Software Systems Pvt Ltd had raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from Infosys' co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan and existing investors.

In 2014, it had raised an undisclosed amount from a group of investors led by Nagaraja Prakasam and MV Subramanian, both members of Indian Angel Network (IAN). Its other investors include YourNest Angel Fund, Analog Devices Inc's co-founder Ray Stata, IDG Ventures India, IIT Madras' Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI), Villgro Innovations Foundation and the National Research Development Corporation.